Mining machine having adjustable rotary cutter heads on rotary turrets



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MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS Filed Dec. 2, 1966 18 Sheets-Sheet l Jda VENTOR-S.

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MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS Filed Dec. 2, 1966 18 Sheets-Sheet e INVENTORS Brew/2a 67. Jarusg Jkk) ARLOl/JKY, J2.

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MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS Filed Dec. 2, 1966 l8 Sheets-Sheet 7 INVENTORJS. PIC/{(920 6 8074 2, Jszer KAPLOl/SK)", e-

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MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS 2, 1966 18 Sheets$heet 8 Filed Dec.

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MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS Filed Dec. 2, 1966 18 Sheets-Sheet 10 PE a O i M w VAJ W 1 a Z h 2 5 f *w y 1967 J. KARLOVSKY. JR.. ETAL 3,331,636

MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS 18 Sheets Sheet 11 Filed Dec. 2, 1966 RU v j k I mmrd M J m5 1 E WW J m p r a .p 1 my a Em 5 y 6 J. KARLOVSKY. JR.. ETAL 3,331,636

MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TUHRETS Filed Dec. 2, 1966 18 Sheets-Sheet 12 V j Z6.

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MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS 1.1ed Dec 2 1966 18 Sheets-Sheet 13 INVENTORS.

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July 18, 1967 3,331,636 TER J. KARLOVSKY. JR. ETAL MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUT HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS l8 Sheets-Shem 15 Filed Dec. 2, 1966 9 Y .6J mu, L 5 mam M 9%? 2 W m f? m m PM 5 y 18, 1967 J. KARLOVSKY. JR. ETAL 3,331,636

MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS Filed Dec. 2, 1966 18 Sheets-Sheet 16 I NVENTORS- Ere/ A20 H 8071 Jae/2r Aqlw avsxr, JP.

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July 18, 1967 J. KARLOVSKY. JR. ETAL MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS Filed Dec. 2, 1966 18 Sheets-Sheet 1'7 BYSLA7WLIK- 6b air y 1967 J. KARLOVSKY, JR. ETAL 3, 3 36 MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS ON ROTARY TURRETS 7 l8 Sheets-Sheet 18 Filed Dec. 2, 1966 \R MR W l mwm Q3 %Q\ 8% 3w 1 mum .hn. m WNR X find WNW \k .P Q 0mm 4-1M w 8% WW m MM. kRn H n MR 98 8Q INVENTORS. 50746'8,

United States Patent 3,331 636 MINING MACHINE HAVING ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CUTTER HEADS 0N ROTARY TURRETS Jerry Karlovsky, Jr., Nashville, and Richard A. Butler,

Carlyle, Ill., assignors to National Mine Service Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of West Virginia Filed Dec. 2, 1966, Ser. No. 598,858 26 Claims. (Cl. 29957) This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 370,193 entitled, Mining Machine Having Adjustable Rotary Cutter Heads on Rotary Turrets, filed on May 26, 1964, and now abandoned.

This invention relates to a continuous mining machine and more paricularly to a boring type continuous mining machine that has a plurality of rotatable turrets and a plurality of rotatable cutter heads positioned on each of the rotatable turrets.

Recently a drilling head has been developed that can drive large diameter entries or bores into hard material such as iron ore or the like at a much faster rate than other known conventional boring machines. The drilling head has a cylindrical body portion and a conical front end portion. A plurality of rotatable plates with picks or cutting devices extending therefrom are secured to the conical front end portion in lateral spaced relation to the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body portion. The axis of each rotatable plate is inclined relative to projected planes that include the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body portion and the axis of each rotatable plate also diverges angularly away from the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body portion. Drive means are provided to rotate the head about the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body portion and to rotate the angularly positioned plates about their respective axes. The plates, therefore, revolve about the longitudinal axis of the body portion as the body portion rotates and rotate about their individual axes. The drilling head is described in US. Patent Re. 25,470 entitled Drilling Head for Sinking Shafts, Galleries or the Like.

It is believed that the rapidity of dislodging the hard materials is attributable to the manner in which the cutting devices secured to the front or top face of the rotatable plates contact or strike the material to be dislodged. The picks have their cutting edges facing toward the direction of rotation of the plates and the plates are so positioned that the picks on each plate strike one after the other into the material to be dislodged and then are immediately withdrawn. The rotation of the cylindrical body portion in conjunction with the rotation of the rotary plates provides a drilling head where the rotary plates are continuously revolving about the axis of the body portion and the picks or cutting devices are continuously dislodging the material in parallel elongated arcuate paths that intersect the circular path circumscribed by the r0- tary plates as they revolve about the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body portion.

The drilling head has a fixed diameter body portion with an Archimedean screw portion thereon to convey the cuttings dislodge by the rotary plates at the front end of the drilling head rearwardly to a suitable receiver, The cylindrical body portion of fixed diameter limits the diameter of the bore or entry that can be made with the drilling head and the Achimedean screw portion limits the amount of material that can be conveyed rearwardly through the bore to the receiver.

The continuous mining machine hereinafter described includes a plurality of rotatable boring heads or turrets that have a plurality of rotatable cutter heads positioned thereon in spaced lateral relation to the longitudinal axis 3,331,636 Patented July 18, 1967 of the respective turret. The cutter heads are positioned on the front end of the turrets in a preselected angular relation to the axis of the turret. Certain of the cutter heads are adjusable laterally relative to the axis of the turret so that the effective diameter of the turrets may be rapidly changed and the continuous mining machine can dislodge material from seams of different thickness.

Briefly, the invention includes a mining machine having a plurality of rotatable turrets extending forwardly therefrom. The turrets include a pilot drill and a plurality of rotatable cutter heads having picks or cutting devices extending forwardly therefrom. Certain of the rotatable cutter heads are radially adjustable relative to the longitudinal axis of the rotatable turrets to increase or decrease the diameters of the bores formed in the material by the mining machine so that the continuous mining machine can be used to remove material from seams having dilferent thicknesses and can be easilymaneuvered in the haulageways or entries of a mine. An adjusting means is provided to adjust the relative position of the adjustable cutter heads. The rotatable cutter heads are secured to the rotatable turrets in a manner that the front face of each of the cutter heads is at an angle with a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the turrets. The axis of the cutter heads is inclined relative to planes comprising the longitudinal axis of the rotatable turrets. The rotatable cutter heads, therefore, have a compound angular relation relative to the longitudinal axis of the rotatable turrets so that the cutting edges of the picks or cutting devices secured to the front portion of the cutter heads face in the general direction of rotation of the cutter heads, and less than all the picks or cutting devices on each rotatable head contact the material to be dislodged at the same time. The longitudinal axes of the cutter heads are not parallel to the longitudinal axes of the rotary turrets. The longitudinal axes deviate outwardly at a slight angle relative to a plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of the turret so that less than all of the picks or cutting devices are in contact wih the material to be dislodged at any one time, and the longitudinal axes of the rotatable cutter heads further deviate angularly toward the direction of rotation of the respective turret so that the cutting edges of the picks or cutting devices face toward the direction of rotation of the rotatable cutting heads.

The adjustment means for adjusting certain of the rotatable cutter heads includes a means to maintain the same angular relation between the axis of the adjustable cutter heads and the longitudinal axis of the rotatable turrets in various positions of radial adjustment.

Accordingly, the principal object of this invention is to provide a continuous mining machine having a plurality of rotatable turrets extending forwardly therefrom with radially displaced rotatable cutter heads thereon that are radially adjustable relative to the longitudinal axis of the rotatable turrets.

Another object of this invention'is to provide a rotatable turret for a continuous mining machine with a plurality of rotatable cutter heads adjustably positioned thereon in angular relation to the longitudinal axis of the turret and certain of the cutter heads being adjustable radially on the turret.

A further object of this invention is to provide a rotatable turret for a continuous mining machine that has a rotatable cutting head extending forwardly therefrom and adjustable radially relative thereto.

Another object of this invention is to provide an adjustment means for maintaining a preselected angular relation between a radially adjustable rotatable cutter head extending forwardly from a rotatable turret.

tion will 'be more completely disclosed and described in V the following specification, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

In the drawings:

' .FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation of one embodiment of the continuous mining machine that has a plurality of turrets with a single outer cutter head, an intermediate cutter head and a pilot drill.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the mining machine illustrated in FIGURE 1 indicating by arrows the relative direction of rotation of the plurality of turrets extending forwardly therefrom.

FIGURE 3 is a view in front elevation of the mining machine illustrated in FIGURE 1 and indicating the direction of rotation of the pilot drill, intermediate and outer cutter heads on each rotary turret.

FIGURE 4 is a view partially in section taken along the line 44 in' FIGURE 3 illustrating the elements of the turrets and a portion of the drive means for the outer and intermediate cutter heads and the pilot drill.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional plan view taken substantially along the line 55 of FIGURE 1 and illus- 4 FIGURE 22 is a diagrammatic illustration of the adjustment gear train and mechanical lock assembly.

FIGURE 23 is a diagrammatic illustration of a gear drive for the pair of outer cutter heads and is similar to the schematic diagram illustrated in FIGURE 12.

FIGURE 24 is a view partially in section similar to I FIGURE 4 illustrating another embodiment of the drive trating a portion of the drive means for a rotary turret and a portion of the adjustment mechanism for the outer cutter head.

FIGURE 6 is a view in section taken along the line '66 in FIGURE 2 and FIGURE 4 and illustrating a portion of the gear train for rotating the intermediate and outer cutter heads and for extending and retracting the outer cutter head.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary view in plan of the drive mechanism for the pilot drill and the intermediate cutter head .on a pair of rotating turrets.

FIGURE 8 is a developed sectional view taken substantially along the line 88- of FIGURE 6 illustrating the adjustment gear train for the inner turntable portion of the outer cutter head.

FIGURE 9 is a schematic diagram of the drive mechanism and gear train for adjusting the inner turntable of the outer cutter head.

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary sectional view in elevation illustrating the actuating mechanism for adjusting the outer cutter head.

FIGURE 11 is a view in elevation taken along the line 11-11 in FIGURE 4 illustrating the adjustment and locking mechanism for positioning the outer turntable relative to the inner turntable.

FIGURE 12 is a diagrammatic view of the gear trains for rotating the turrets in timed relation to each other and for rotating the intermediate cutter head, the outer .cutter head and the center pilot bits on all of the rotary turrets.

FIGURE 13 is a view in side elevation of another em- .bodiment of the continuous mining machine wherein the turrets have a center pilot drill, an intermediate cutter head and a pair of outer cutter heads.

FIGURE 14 is a top plan view of the front portion 'of the mining machine illustrated in FIGURE 13.

FIGURE 15 is a semi-diagrammatic view in front "elevation of the mining machine illustrated in FIGURES l3 and 14 and illustrating the pairs of outer cutter heads in various adjustedpositions.

FIGURE 16 is a developed section taken along the :line.16-1 6 in FIGURE 14 and illustrating the drive and adjustment mechanism for one of the outer cutter heads.

FIGURES 17, 18, 19 and 20 are views in section and :in front elevation, taken along the lines 1717, -1818, 19-19 and 20-20 respectively in FIGURE 16, and illustrating a portion of the gearing for adjusting and -driving the outer cutter head. 7

FIGURE 21 is a schematic perspective of the lock assembly and adjusting gear train illustrated in FIGURE vl6.

means for the outer and intermediate cutter heads and the pilot drill.

FIGURE 25 is a view in front elevation of (ment the I cutter heads with the cutting bits removed.

FIGURE 26 is a view in section of the cutter head taken along the line 26-26 in FIGURE 25 and including cutter.

bits positioned in the respective bit receivers.

General description Referring to the drawings and particularly FIGURES l-3, the continuous mining machine generally designated by the numeral 10 has a body or main frame 12 with a trough-shaped conveyor compartment 14 extending longitudinally thereof. The conveyor compartment 14 has a front opening or throat 16, as illustrated 'in FIGURE 3. A conveying means, such as an endless chain conveyor,

extends along the bottom of the compartment 14 'and.

lic pump drive motor. generally designated by the num-' ral 36 which, through suitable gearing, drives the hydrau- V lic pumps 37, provides the traction drive for the mining machine 10. Adjacent one side of the'body 12 there is an .operators compartment 38 with suitable control levers 40 for controlling the various functions of the mining machine.

The front end of the body 12 has an elongated rectangular transmission housing 42 in which the main timing gear train is housed. A pair of electric motors 44 and 46 are connected to the transmission housing 42 and are suitably supported thereby. Each of the motors 44 and 46 has a clutch housing 48 positioned between the respective motor and the transmission housing 42. Centrifugal mechanisms within the clutch housing 48 are. arranged to drivingly connect the motors 44 and 46 to the gearing within the transmission housing 42. V

There is also provided an endless trimmer chain 50 that is supported by a pair of horizontal bars 52 and 54 adjacent the roof and floor of the entry. Pairs of cylinders 56 are arranged to extend and retract the cutter bar 52 and pairs of cylinders 58 are likewise arranged to extend and retract the bar 54 and thereby adjust the relative horizonshould be understood that other means may be provided to remove the kerfs of material left by'the rotary turrets,

such as drum type trimmer bars and the like.

Referring to FIGURE 5, the main transmission housing 42 has a pair of rearwardly extending portions 60 and 62 that contain gears for reducing the angular'velocity of the timing gear train 104 housed in the transmission housing 42. Extending forwardly from the main transmission housing 42 are four auxiliary housings 64, 66, 68 and 7% which rotatably support the respective rotary turrets 18, 20, 22 and 24 (FIGURE 3).

The rotary turrets 'The turrets 18, .20, 22 and 24 are of substantially the same constructionand include abody portion 72 with a rear portion 74 secured thereto. The rear portion 74 has a cylindrical end portion 76 which rotatably extends into 

1. A ROTATABLE TURRET COMPRISING, A BODY PORTION HAVING A LONGITUDINAL AXIS ABOUT WHICH SAID BODY PORTION ROTATES, A CUTTER HEAD ROTATABLY SUPPORTED ON THE FRONT END OF SAID BODY PORTION IN ANGULAR RELATION TO AND SPACED LATERALLY FROM SAID BODY PORTION LONGITUDINAL AXIS, SAID CUTTER HEAD HAVING AN AXIS OF ROTATION IN ANGULAR RELATION WITH SAID BODY PORTION LONGITUDINAL AXIS, SAID CUTTER HEAD HAVING A PLURALITY OF CUTTING DEVICES SECURED THERETO AND EXTENDING FROM THE FRONT PORTION OF SAID CUTTER HEAD, SAID CUTTING DEVICES HAVING CUTTING EDGES FACING IN THE DIRECTION OF ROTATION OF SAID CUTTER HEAD, DRIVE MEANS WITHIN SAID BODY PORTION TO ROTATE SAID CUTTER HEAD ABOUT SAID CUTTER HEAD AXIS OF ROTATION ADJUSTING MEANS TO MOVE SAID CUTTER HEAD RADIALLY RELATIVE TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID BODY PORTION AND MAINTAIN SAID ANGULAR RELATION BETWEEN SAID CUTTER HEAD AND SAID BODY PORTION LONGITUDINAL AXIS. 